Castro open to talks ‘any day’ U.S. wantsCuban President Raul Castro on Thursday said he is ready for talks with
the United States, a day after the Obama administration slammed the
communist government for detaining mourners at the funeral of a
prominent Cuban dissident.

Terrified Syrians pack up to flee capitalFighting between rebels and Syrian forces intensified and spread across
the capital of Damascus on Tuesday as diplomats scrambled to shore up a
tough international response to the “civil war” ahead of a U.N. deadline for withdrawing observers.

Power at core of dispute in Egypt
The power struggle that has pitted Egypt’s
first democratically elected president against his country’s courts
and military has drifted into murky legal waters, leaving analysts,
officials and ordinary Egyptians scratching their heads over the
question: who has the law on their side?

From bullets to ballot box: Libyans freely cast votesWhen the uprising erupted in Libya last year, Adam Sbati closed his
schoolbooks and left the secure campus of George Mason University in
Fairfax County to rush to his parents' homeland and join ragtag rebels
fighting Moammar Gadhafi.